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I hear a lot these days about sodium batteries, which seem to promise lower costs for storage. Any thoughts on whether those make storage and transport of solar power more feasible?

I’ve kept my AA-5B outside for seven years with no ill effects. As mentioned above hail is the one thing to worry about - I’d ask the airport about overnight availability of hangars & get ready to pay to store your plane in a hangar overnight if severe T’storms or hail is forecast. Otherwise...

First flight of the day and after fueling. That’s what I meant.

I always sump at the start of each flight, and after adding fuel. My one engine failure (or sputter) in flight was caused by water in the fuel system. I’d find a different CFI.

Yes. Grumman AA-5B

Canopy cover. Plus the lock has its own hinged cover.

I’ve thought about flying my cat but I’d worry about noise & hearing damage. Maybe putting some blankets around the carrier would damp the sound a bit.

Hickory NC has a small restaurant and a cool little aviation museum to tour. Very little traffic so easy in, easy out.

I wouldn't blame ULA. The Atlas V has something like a 99% success rate. It's pricier per launch than SpaceX, but has a good track record. The Boeing payload on the other hand...

One additional trick. Especially when departing VFR in mountainous terrain, you may want an initial heading that differs from your direct-to-destination heading. For example departing Asheville I prefer to fly down the valley for 10 miles to avoid flying over peaks. You can ask clearance and...

I'd guess I have about a 75% dispatch rate for any specific day I want to travel. Probably more like 90+% if I give it two days on either side. So far I've found GA a pretty reliable way to travel if I have a bit of flexibility.

Thread drift, but I recently flew into the Moore County airport in Dumas TX and had some great brisket at the airport diner. Nice folks too.

I fly in there a few times a year. I think Signature is the only “official” option, and their ramp person will come out to your plane as soon as you pull up. But you might be able to just taxi to the GA hangars north of Signature and pause in the alley for a few minutes.

Wait… it travels the speed limit? What good is that? The main advantage of a cab is being able to travel 55 in a 30 zone while the driver argues with his cousin on the phone.

Gotcha. My error was thinking that ATC would give me a “cleared XYZ upon reaching <altitude>” after I reported being able maintain obstacle/terrain clearance. Like you say, they would instead issue my IFR clearance immediately at my present altitude, together with a “climb/maintain” to...

This is helpful - thanks. But the distinction between "maintaining terrain and obstacle clearance" and "maintaining VFR" isn't completely clear to me in this context (I did read 7110.65AA). Certainly if I depart an uncontrolled airport after receiving my clearance on the ground, I'm...

I’m not arguing with or criticizing ATC. It was my oversight for not considering the MVA and cloud bases when planning to pick up the clearance enroute. However, I’m guessing I’m not the only one who doesn’t usually pull up the FAA MVA charts during flight planning, so it’s a useful lesson.

Just to tack on a lesson learned from this week's flight. Because of high headwinds aloft, I decided to depart VFR, stay low, and pick up my IFR outside an enroute airport (KMTV). The plan was to cruise down at 2500' until just before MTV, then pickup my IFR and climb to 4000' for the...

I’m surprised it didn’t ask you for a tip anyway.

The MT electric prop is available for the Tigers. The main benefit is improved climb, especially at max gross weight. I think the consensus is that it doesn't improve cruise speed at all. You might also checkout the Facebook pages for Grumman Pilots Associations and Grumman Tiger and Cheetah...